[CIS] Knowledge is Power

[Manu Xextos]

"Hah! @[member="Krest"]! Fabulous! Another part of Ataru is using your environment. Ledges, stray rocks, ceilings, heck even other people or debris become important bouncing off points. Remember, no duel is a linear thing. Ping off barriers, vault over people, the only centre is you. The only up, the only down is what you choose it to be. Gravity is less distinct. Be wary, Ataru doesn't function well in cramped spaces, nor is it conservative. Using the Force to bring you more stamina is a distinction of an Ataru Master, where a mere practitioner will amaze and tire. Your next task, look around you. Find places to ping off of, to jump and use to push off. Start also to move your blade while you jump instead of letting the jump matter more."

He came around @[member="Voroll"] and watched the apprentice for a while. "Choke up on the hilt, keep your breathing easy you're going to need to train yourself to remain calm. Adrenaline will make your hands shake, lungs pump atmo faster, you'll be more inclined to rash decisions, or mistakes. The more you train yourself to be at peace with your weapon, the more you can tailor your fight." Casting his eyes to his Padawan @[member="Felix Emer"], Manu got such a brilliant idea it was epic. Wonderful! Amazing. "Lightsabre Learners, pair up. Continue your counts, this time striking at your partner at the same time. Get a flow going, but start slow. Only when you feel you can handle upping the speed without killing each other, do so. @Felix, you're with Voroll. @[member="Sophia Walsh"], you're with @[member="Anastasia Verd"]. Once you progress with that, I'll teach you to add footwork… Hark, I feel a disturbance in the Force." Manu said, standing straight-spined and turning slowly to feel the incredible hatred soaking from someone behind him. It was Ket, wasn't it? The Van Derveld Family of yesteryear had affected him deeply, Vega had been a 'friend' in those days when Vega was in the Jedi's Temple Moon. But no, alas! It was the Mandalorian.

FFWWAAAAAZZZZZZZZPPPPPPPP!!!

Using Force Lightning. Thankfully Manu's hair already stands on its' ends!

"Who is that guy? Ah, *achem* get working." Manu's face screwed into a mask of utter and complete confusion. He hadn't even met @[member="Isley Verd"], nor any of them here but his Padawan @[member="Felix Emer"]. Old racial hates must still run deep. Manu turned his eyes back to his students and he moved a bit further off from Darth Twinkle Fingers and his metallic helmet glare of hate. Seeing the little pink Mando join up with a red Mando, Manu couldn't help but watch the little one get some help and even though the Echani in him was reminded of long standing racial hatred, Manu padded over to the ladies and took a short bow and got on one knee to better look the little Mando in her pink helmet. "You made that yourself? May I see it?" He gently took the light sabre from @[member="Ginnie Verd"]'s hand and inspected the hilt. "You're a creative girl. Sabre like this needs a name, find meaning in the sabre and it'll find confidence in you. Looks like you've got a perfect coach, Vly'Mando'ade. I think you'll be perfect for Shii Cho. What do you think, @[member="Alliera Nakamura"]? We've got a natural duellist here, once she gets used to the armour. You'd be better at teaching her how to move in that then I am. I'll leave you to it, Ma'am."

Free of his obligations for a time, Manu returned to @[member="Tycho Shorn"] and belly laughed. "Vapaad! Man, I haven't seen a Vapaad practitioner in eight hundred years! This is going to be a treat." Sweeping into a regal bow, the Father of the Echani Royal House of Xextos & Chandaar brought his light sabre Nuada to bear. The solid silver beam shone with an inner and outer luminescence, as if the sabre itself was an installation of the Light and peace of the Force. It was said in the Myths and Histories of the Chandaari that no Darksider could touch the Blade of the Patriarch, nor any Darksider gain access to it. Whether there was truth in the myth was now to be tested. Settling into the beginning stance of Ataru, the seven foot Echani waited for Tycho's On Guard and launched forward and began with a lazy side stroke as an introduction to their combat.

 

[Felix Emer]

Felix stood back in a ready sparring stance and waited for @Voroll to strike. After the first round he began to feel much more comfortable with the saber in his hands. What was once a foreign object was now becoming something he could use. He closed his eyes and began to block each attack fluidly as his fears began to melt away. Peace. Calm. You're more effective when you're calm. He kept repeating this to himself over and over like a mantra.

 

[Voroll]

Perhaps he had a knack for fighting with a lightsaber, since no one came to inform him otherwise. The blocks we practiced were born from his own logic and mind – maybe interlaced with some fights he had seen between lightsaber-wielders – but nothing had been taught to him about formal movements for attacks and parries.
He had pictured where a beam of light could travel from, which as light goes, could be in any direction possible. But these were focused beams of light. Permitted to only travel in one direction at a time. Easier than fighting natural light.

From each angle he had managed to manoeuvre the grip of his own blade and the focused beam of light that protruded from it into an adequate aggressive or defensive slash and swipe, intent on burning through flesh or deflecting away another lightsaber blade.

When @[member="Manu Xextos"] approached him to inform him of his grasp on the hilt and to remain calm, he did not know what he meant. Although nothing was said, since he moved towards another student and announced that they would now be in pairs.
Pairing was good, especially when it came to learning the basics of lightsaber combat and the form known as Shii-Cho. Plus it allowed Voroll another opportunity to get to know another person, who, had just been announced as @[member="Felix Emer"]. The thought did not occur to him to use low-powered training lightsabers when fighting another person, just for health and safety reasons.
He walked over to the brown-haired man, who looked to be older than he, but an age could not be determined by mere glances.
“Hey.” Voroll gave a little wave while the lightsaber hilt lay inactive in his hand still.

He began to use the strikes he had been practicing earlier, but stopped when Felix closed his eyes. Voroll disignited his lightsaber and examined the man before him, but could not pick up anything out of the ordinary; he was not pre-occupied with anything else and seemed to be entirely calm. But this did little to ease the worries of the youngest of the pair, as his lightsaber moves were hesitant and seemed to ‘stutter’ in that they moved but stopped and carried on, just in case his opponent did not see the moves.

 

[Anastasia Verd]

The forms she was interested, according to @[member="Manu Xextos"], replied on Shii Cho for a foundation. The building block of them all as he has called it. Anastasia knew this. The Determination form was taught to all the Jedi once first before they progressed. It was older than the other forms, developed when the Jedi were starting the use of lightsabers. And if all Jedi younglings had began used it, so she did once with her Tutor. That was years and years ago though. Other than applying pieces of it into her whole fighting style, Anastasia had not specifically used the Shii Cho form since she was still a young clone, long before her first Master had taken over her training and progressed it to far more useful thing.

As such, the spirit could not believe she was being degraded down to such a basic childhish form. In moments such as this, Anastasia needed to a moment to remember why this was so. She was a youngling in training again. The instructor pointed the Mandalorian in pink, telling her follow her through basic blocks to warm up. Anastasia glanced at the woman she was now related to for a moment while the man instructed further. Stay light. Light on her feet, free in her head. She looked back at the man as he started giving instructed details onn how to began before going into the second form she desired to learn. Grounded and calm. No anger or fear. I know. Her mind simply thought though she said nothing.

Through her mind, she heard Isley's voice, her head turning towards him, seeing the lightsaber hilt hower towards her. She could keep that one, she heard him say and reached for it without hesitation. Concentrating herself, she sent a simple thought to the man: 'Thank you, Dad.' And severed her link to him quickly.

Taking a moment in silence she look at the hilt of the weapon, the curve the hilt as her fingers slowly wrapped around it. Moving her hand forward, the hilt held horizontally, Anastasia let her index finger ignate it. The red beam came alive, black eyes moved across the blade. The red spiked memories in her mind almost instantly, images flowing through her mind. Twin lightsabers, red beam, in her hands. It felt if only had yesterday had passed since she held them, trained with Lord Illuminus. She deactivated it a second after and walked over to her pink-armor-wearing Aunt, her black eyes looking at her in her armor. Mandalorians and their armors. Even in her time here, she had not fully understood it. Then again, Anastasia's memories of the breed went only as far to Mercenaries. She had never had any other type of dealings with them. She had been ready to begin when she noticed Ginnie wasn't actually paying attention to her anymore, her head turning to the side, noting the lighting that had come out of her Father's hand. She returned her gaze back on Ginnie, not much interested into what was happening. Keeping her eyes on the female, she ignited the lightsaber in her right hand again, the beam coming to her side diagonally, slightly lowered.

"Aunt Ginnie...," she said quietly, wanting to get her attention. Anastasia wanted to use her new lightsaber. In the old days, she would have just attacked the child. The lack of attention towards completely at the fault of the Mandalorian girl. But now Anastasia had loyalty towards her parents, something she had never had before. And since Father did love this girl, she wouldn't harm her for not focusing on the task at hand. Oh, if only forceless child could see now. She would have either thought she had grown weak or she would have warned Ginnie to stay away from her. But she wasn't here.

Her gaze turned to @[member="Alliera Nakamura"] as noted her speaking to her Aunt. Ginnie spoke then, talking to the other female, talking about her lightsaber and commenting her stance. "It helps if you lose the armor when you first start, Aunt Ginnie." Anastasia told @[member="Ginnie Verd"]. "Didn't you hear what the man said? Calm. Focused. Easy on your feet. And for starters, breathe." Why was she helping her? Right, it was that loyalty thing again. Not to Ginnie, not in the least bit. But to Isley.

She heard her name then and looked back, noting her instructor asign her to another female, @[member="Sophia Walsh"]. That was quick.

 

[Curupira Hawk]

Even though the golden gaze noted the lightsaber exchange, she didn't pay much attention it, waiting instead for @[member="Isley Verd"] to go back to her. He expended on what she said which told Curupira she had gotten it right to a point, at least. But he had more to say, mentioning shocking, burning and overloading electronics. The redhead nodded to that. Yep, that was what it looked like. She'd never actually felt it on herself but that was probably a good thing. It still looked really cool when used on a person.

Then there was something else which seemed relevant to her if she wanted to learn. It would be born from her own Force energy and in other to get it, she had to expel negativity through her limb. It threw on the Darkside welled up inside her. And in order to get that negativity, she needed hate, anger and passion. Curupira frowned. She wasn't hating right now and she wasn't angry. Which meant she had to think of something. First thought, she got to see him do it. The lighting had spread from the man's hand, the lightning going just over the head of one of the taller men not to far. "You missed," she muttered before she could actually stop herself from saying it. Ket didn't miss when he used it. Did the man miss on purpose?

Now, he wanted her to try it. Hate, anger, passion and others. Golden eyes made a half circle, stopping when they were set on the sky as she tried to find that anger. She wasn't that kind of Sith for the most part. Anger didn't just come to her, Cura had to actually find it. Closing her eyes, she inhaled deep, letting her memories fill her. Then one came. One she didn't even know she had. One she had nightmares of when she was little. Curupira thought it was gone and yet, when she actually focused hard on her memories, there it was. She was small, the Nightsisters had attacked the camp. Ma'dri was already dead. One moment, Pa'tre was holding her hand, the next he was staring at her, a the tip of the spear coming through his chest. The look of pure horror on his face before the spear vanished and he fell, his hand releasing hers. Curupira blinked as the emotions followed memory. Anger. Rage. Before she could even stop herself, her mind tapped into the Force, her emotions fueling her Force Rage, her gaze flashing a darker shade. Her hand clutched into a fist before unclutching. Her mind clouded with the hate for that one single face, she focused her mind just enough to remember what she had been told, channeling it to her hands. She could feel the darkness surge through her limbs and into her fingers, mind calling for the electricity within her, the anger, the rage. Then when she had felt it had reached the tips of her fingers she released. The electricity escaped through her fingers, spreading ahead. Corrupted by the Rage, Curupira didn't have any actual control of it as it spread, the old image flashing before her eyes again, as if the Force was demanding her to go on.

Oh, how she wanted. She wanted just let it go, not care what would happen. But she remembered one very vital detail. @[member="Ket Van Derveld"] was here. And no amount of anger could make her truly forget that. Right now, it turned out to be a useful anchor, stopping her, calming her. The lightning stopped a few moments after, unevenly as it had spread out from her fingertips. Curupira rose her hands, looked at her fingers, completely unaware of what was going around her. Whether anyone was paying attention right not to her or not, she didn't know. Her golden gaze just kept staring at it, remembering what had fueled them. That memory had been dormant for so long. And by remembering it, she remembered exactly why she had pushed them aside, refused to think about her past before Seth too much.

@Anyone who wants in on this, any way they want to

 

[Gorba the Hutt]

Gold shimmered through the air and met @[member="Manu Xextos"]' silver bar in a flash of light. Tycho put his weight behind the blade, turning the parry into a lock. Sparks spat as the lightsaber hissed against the Murmegil, but the Sith Sword's gleaming gilded edge seemed to shine with a dark glee. This was what it had been made for. Shorn could taste the ozone in the air it hung so thick. He breathed in, drawing in both the stench of ozone and the Dark Side's power. Strength coursed through his muscles.

"Hardly Vaapad, Ser," Tycho gritted his teeth in a smile, "That's about restraining your enjoyment of the fight. This is Juyo. This is giving in to temptation," he winked, then attacked.

He shoved his body weight forward to disengage the sword lock, then moved into an all out assault. Many thought Djem So was a power stance. And it was. All about hard hits and counter attacks. But Juyo was the ultimate offense. Tycho launched an unending barrage of strikes. The heavy Sith Sword whipped through the air faster than should have been possible for any normal human. Force enhanced muscles moved with preternatural speed as he attacked high in a cut that would have severed Manu's head from his shoulders before suddenly reversing course. His elbows snapped back, turning the slash into a thrust. The Echani's blade would be busy fending off a non-existent decapitation stroke, while Shorn's blade drove straight for his chest.

 

[Felix Emer]

@Voroll

"Hey" Felix said with a smile. "You as new at this as I am? I'm usually behind those who use these things making sure people don't die." Felix shrugged briefly and chuckled, shifting his weight from side to side a bit. "I bet I look pretty ridiculous so far. Shall we continue?" This time Felix took the offensive stance and waited for Voroll's ready signal.

 

[Voroll]

“I can’t say I’m completely new to fighting with a blade. I have used it a few times, although not against anyone else who wielded one. It was fairly easy, though.” Voroll smiled and released a slight laugh, not even that noticeable of one. “I’ve mainly used my blaster pistol. It can be easier.” He finished, noting the lack of confidence coming from the older man’s voice.
In truth Voroll used a blaster more so there was little chance of him perceiving the emotions of those he shot. Of course, he had never actually shot anyone. Sometimes he hoped that he would never have to, either.

When his opponent and partner, @[member="Felix Emer"], stood in the ready stance of Shii-Cho – which had little difference in offensive and defensive postures, especially for sparring – Voroll’s white lightsaber ignited once again. Held in both hands at an angle to his body. Feet spread apart.
“I’m ready.” His voice was calm and blank, awaiting the move of his partner.

 

[Darth Ferus]

@[member="Manu Xextos"]

Krest grinned for just a moment, nodding to the Echani. Ataru was already something the Zabrak liked, and this was only bringing the form that much higher on his list. He took off, the force building around his legs as he started to leap around the courtyard. From small posts to the high walls Krest leaped, always with a smile on his face. He felt free with this style, free to move, free to enjoy.

"Start also to move your blade while you jump instead of letting the jump matter more." Krest's eyes flashed at the memory. His blue saber came to life in a flash as he lept, already experimenting with how to use it. A flip got a downwards slash. Cartwheel got a lengthwise. Roll would get a thrust or cut to the legs. He fleshed out his own style of Ataru, utilizing what he already knew of swordplay. But even an Iridonian warrior has trouble keeping up with the physical demands of the form. What was for certain was he was already getting tired. Endurance was something he would work on at a alter date, but for now he was ecstatic.